Probably Impossible In Theory
by Darkpenn
Summary: What's a pathway between universes?


**Probably Impossible … In Theory**

_What's a pathway between universes?_

_[Author's Note: This story follows the stories _Iceland: Crisis/Opportunity_ and _A Nexus of Unforeseen Events.]

Elle, Dee, Newton and Hermann were in the Geiszlers' apartment, which looked out over the lights of Hong Kong. They were playing Scrabble.

"You guys have six PhDs between you," said Elle, "and yet you are incredibly bad at this game."

"And … so … slow," added Dee.

"Don't rush me, don't rush me," said Hermann. "I am about to put down a wonderful word."

He put three tiles down. J-A-R, linking up to a T at the end. "There," he said. "And I know that J is worth eight points."

"Are you sure you grasp the concepts here?" said his wife.

"Hermann is … not good with … certain things," said Newton.

"And yet he is beating you," said Elle, looking at the scores. She put down her word. S-Q-U-A-N-D-E-R-S, reaching two triple-word spots. "That's just to remind you two that you will be doing the washing-up again, because you wasted your chances and agreed to the stakes," she said.

Everyone laughed, and then became quiet, as they considered the game.

"Hermann, Newton," said Dee softly. "Do you know that Marshall Hansen wants you to reverse-engineer a Breach?"

"His view is that the Precursors will keep creating Breaches until they find a way and a place to mount another invasion," said Elle. "He says that we should be in a position to retaliate. Send nukes into the Anteverse. Wipe them out, if we have to."

Newton was quiet for a long time, staring at his letters. Eventually, he said: "Uh-huh."

"Funny, sweetie, I expected more of a reaction," said Elle. She glanced at Hermann.

Hermann gave his equivalent of a sigh. "What my intellectually-challenged colleague means," he said, "is that it can't be done."

"Hey!" said Newton. "What I said is that it probably can't be done. And also that it would run the risk of destroying the universe. Or at least the planet."

"I will agree," said Hermann, "that one variation of the maths … suggests … that as a theoretical possibility. And in any case, he is … it pains me to say this … right. About it being impossible to build a stable Breach from this world to the Anteverse, at least."

Dee looked at her husband, and then at Newton, and then at Hermann again. "You've already done the maths, haven't you?" she said.

"Well, yes, we ran a few equations," said Hermann.

"He worked solidly on it for four days," said Newton. "Without sleep. Testing my physics modelling."

"That is untrue!" said Hermann. "It was only three days. Perhaps three-and-a-half. Perhaps a little more than that. But not four, is my point. So Dr Geiszler is wrong, yet again."

"Tomato, potato," said Newton. "Anyway, after Hannibal Chau's henchwoman hit on me – "

"I would not call it that," said Elle. "I was there, remember."

Newton grimaced. "Well, after that … incident … I thought that the idea might at least be worth checking out, as a theoretical exercise. Everything says that it can't be done. First, you need a huge amount of power. Then you need a very large slab of stuff from the Anteverse as a conductor. Then you need to find an initial link to the Anteverse, to act as a focal point. Some sort of energy line."

"And even if you could get those things, the resulting pathway would not be stable," said Hermann. "The physics of our universe would not allow it. The Anteverse has stabilising energies that simply do not exist here. The information from the pod that Marshall Hansen sent into the Iceland Breach confirmed that."

"And because of that, any attempt to create a Breach from this side would result in a … well, a black hole," said Newton.

"Dr Geiszler!" snapped Hermann. "We have been through this! It would not be a black hole! Although I accept that the resulting phenomenon could, in theory, have certain properties that are sometimes associated with black holes."

"Like a big sucking action," said Newton. "Enough to swallow … everything."

"It is just a theory," said Hermann. "Actually, even when a breach is closed, as the Iceland Breach is at the moment, there is a very small leak of radiation. It scans like radio static."

"I thought that the Anteverse was a bit like our universe," said Elle. "Dr Sediko said that the environment was comparable."

"Yes, it might even be possible to survive there for a while," said Newton. "Theoretically. The pod send down the Iceland Breach found evidence of atmosphere, gravity, stuff like that. Although the entrance on their side is more like a hallway that you would walk along. A hallway that's steadily getting bigger. But it's a hole in the ground on this side. Peculiar."

"I did explain that to you," said Hermann. "It is because of the different functionality of space and time in the Anteverse. Distances and durations appeared to be compressed, causing a partial inversion at the intersections of – "

"Does anyone else know about this?" interrupted Dee.

"I doubt it," said Newton.

In another part of the city, another four people were sitting at a table. They were not playing Scrabble.

"So," said Hannibal Chau, "we are agreed, then, are me, Hyram?"

"You will address the leader of our faith," said the woman on the other side of the table, Sister Onibaba, "as First Minister."

Hyram Forsythe, head of the Church of the Kaiju, waved her into silence, smiling as he did so. He even gave a little laugh. He was, thought Hannibal, a strangely plump, short fellow for a man who was considered to be an apocalyptic prophet by his followers. Mind you, a lot of his followers were probably permanently whacked on Headchangers, the hallucinogenic drug derived from the fluids of a Kaiju's tertiary pyramidial cortex. Even the cloned stuff was pretty powerful.

"We are agreed, Mr Chau," he said. "We will pool our existing knowledge, your engineers and mine. Further, the Church will provide the project site and your organisation will provide the link and the material. Together, we will open the way to the Anteverse."

Hannibal and Hyram shook hands. They left, by different doors.

"Do you think they can be trusted?" said Natasha to Hannibal.

"Of course not," he said. "They're rock-n-roll crazies from the Twilight Zone. They'll fuck us the first chance they get, as soon as the portal is open."

"Unless … " said Natasha.

"Unless we fuck them first," said Hannibal.

END


End file.
